Look What I Found!

Ch. 17

A scream jerked Richie awake from his slumber, and he fell off the side of the couch he was occupying. He looked around in alarm before spotting the lump on the sofa thrashing about.

"Mike," Richie sighed, rushing to his side. "Hey, hey, hey. It's ok. You're ok, Mike."

"No, no! Leave her alone! Leave her alone!" Richie wasted no time wrapping his arms around Mike as he hit and scratched with all his might. "Let me go! Please, please! I need them! Nancy!"

"Shh, Mike. They're ok. You're ok. It's all over." Like the other night, he rocked back and forth, carding his fingers through Mike's hair.

"No! It'll come back. It's coming back!"

Richie froze at the choice of words, a chill going down his spine as flashes of It crossed his mind. "Who's coming back, Mike?" But all he got was more screams of terror and broken sobs.

"Kill me instead!" Mike sobbed, begging the invisible being. Richie's heart ached at the words. Memories of how Pennywise tried to get them to trade Bill's life for their own. How Bill wanted them to. He hugged Mike closer, who struggled to get away.

"I'm not letting go, kid. Not until you know you're safe. Everyone's safe, Mike. Just calm down for me, ok?"

Mike's body slowly started going limp as his hand finally reached up and clung to Richie's shirt instead. He buried his head in the crook of Richie's neck as sobs left him. His eyes were open slightly, but he was glancing around as if he were still seeing something. He kept mumbling about how it was gone over and over again. Reassuring himself. And slowly, he stopped mumbling altogether. The only sound was his sniffling and a few sobs here and there.

"You're ok, Mike. I gotcha. You're safe. They're safe." Richie repeated in the silence. He didn't know who he was trying to reassure more. Him or Mike.

"Mike?" Richie tried after a few minutes of silence. The kid was so still and quiet that he thought he had fallen asleep again.

"Hmm?" Came a sleepy answer, pulling Richie out of his musing.

"Do you want to talk about it or try to go back to sleep?"

"Sleep," was his instant answer. Richie let him be, nearly falling asleep as they lay there in silence, but a sigh startled him back awake.

"My friend Will went missing a while back. We met this girl named El. She-She helped us find him. She was-She is my girlfriend. But then, once we got him back, she went missing. She came back after a whole year of being gone. Turns out the cop that helped us find Will was hiding her from us. From the bad."

"Bad?"

"People. She was in trouble, but we helped her. She's ok now. Safe. Both of them. She saved Will twice, and we saved her. I'm not supposed to talk about it. Or go into details. But I know my dreams are about them going missing again. About the bad people taking them again."

Richie hummed, taking it all in. "Who's Nancy?"

Mike quickly looked at him before looking down. "My sister," he whispered, "but that's all I'm telling you."

"Hmm... Did something happen to her?"

"No. Yes? She likes knowing the truth. She digs and digs until she's in trouble and needs help getting out. I worry about her."

"How cute." Mike gave him a look, and Richie smiled. "What? It's cute that you're overprotective of your sister. Has she had a boyfriend yet? Bet you didn't like that."

"At first, no. She could have done so much better. She did! But I guess he's changed, and he's cool now or whatever. They're back together now, so."

Richie snorted, ruffling his hair a bit as Mike whined, pulling away from him and out of the hug. They sat in silence after, and Richie was actually content with it. Mike leaned back on the couch, looking like he was about to doze off when he spoke.

"I'm sorry."

Richie looked at him, confused, "for what?"

"For waking you up." Richie met Mike's guilty eyes, and he quickly started talking. "I mean, I've had nightmares before. They were just never... Never this bad, Ya know?"

"Yea. Yea, I get it, kid. Really. After moving out of Derry, it was like my nightmares got worse. I had the cops at my apartment so many times because they thought someone was being murdered." Richie laughed hollowly as Mike gave him a confused look.

"Why did you have nightmares?"

Richie felt his chest cave in as the memories of It tried to resurface. The horror of his identity, of his love for Eddie. All the nightmares It has tormented him with inside his head and in real life.

"My-my friend went missing too when I was about 12 years old. Beverly, actually. We got her back, though. Just like you got El and Will back."

"How did she go missing? What took her?"

"What took her?" Mike shrugged indifferently at his phrasing, choosing to ignore it. Richie scoffed, "there was a murder spree in Derry. Beverly was one of the kids that were taken. Earlier, though, Georgie was taken, Bill's little brother. He never made it back. We had just found Beverly in the nick of time. We fought the guy who took her, and he was soon carted off to the crazy bin."

"Jesus," Mike whispered, horrified. "Did she ever talk about it to anyone?"

Richie nodded, "she moved shortly after. She went to therapy and everything. She's better now, though. We all are. But the last visit to Derry... Well, turns out the guy held a vendetta against us. It was why I was almost charged with murder. He tried to kill Mike, so I.. Yea, you know the rest."

"Dustin was obsessed with that article when it got leaked. Holy shit. The news really twisted the real version around to make you look like the bad guy, huh?"

A laugh left his lips in shock, "you have no idea how many times they actually do that." A silence settled over them, both in deep thought.

"Thank you," Mike finally whispered.

"For what?"

"For letting me stay here. Taking care of me, not that I needed it. For waking me up and helping me through my nightmares."

"No problem, kid. Like I said, you're always welcome to stay for as long as you'd like." Mike smiled tiredly at him, and Richie slowly got up off the couch. "Alright then! I think it's time for bed. I'm not as young as I used to be."

"Did you just admit to being old?"

Richie turned sharply towards him with a glare. "Call me old one more time."

Mike leaned forward with a challenging smile. "You're old, Old ma-"

"That's it! I change my mind!" Richie stalks up the stairs with Mike fast on his heels, laughing. "Pack your stuff. You're sleeping on the streets. Disrespecting me like that! In my own house!"

Making it up the stairs, both finally calming down, Mike turned towards Richie. "Good night, Richie."

"Good night, Mike."

And they headed their separate ways. Mike walked into his room, and seeing all the stuff still piled on his bed, he groaned.

"Fuck this." He starts shoving things off at the end of his bed, ignoring Richie's yelling about how he told him so. He pulls out his bag from under his bed and pulls out a photo.

He runs his finger over the faces of Nancy and Holly; Both his parents' faces are ripped off. He tucks it under his pillow, where he keeps the picture of the party and gets comfortable before falling asleep.